Tag: game of thrones

I am so sorry for the lack of updates lately. The last few weeks has been CRAZY. My oldest daughter graduated high school, and my youngest had her middle school play – we are heavily involved in the drama programs with both kids, and I emcee the annual high school drama banquet, which was a few weeks ago as well. And that’s on top of “normal life” – so it’s been tough trying to follow all the news – we’re very behind in all our RV shows as well, and I owe a friend a book review as well…but anyways, here is a rapid recap of the last week or so…

HBO has given a pilot order for one of five the potential Game Of Thrones spinoffs, this one for a prequel series set in the “golden age of Heroes”, which “descends into its darkest hour”, where we will learn about the white walkers, the Starks of legend, and more. Given it was just announced, there is no director, cast, etc. yet but it comes from Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass, Kingsman) and George R.R. Martin, with Goldman acting as showrunner. Martin said on his blog he currently prefers the title “The Long Night”, but that isn’t definite yet. Martin also said that one of the other four ideas for spinoffs has been shelved, but the other three are still possible.

As for that other fantasy mega-franchise, Amazon appears to be banking on its deal for the Lord of the Rings franchise, having cleared a lots of its shows off the slate. The head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke said in a Deadline interview that they aren’t going to try and compete at the volume level with Netflix, adding, “You can’t go big and go irrelevant.” While there is little to go on, they are currently only working on one series – “one big series,” and that while it isn’t remaking the movies, it will involve “it’ll be characters you love.”

Speaking of Salke and Amazon, she also addressed the idea of Amazon Studios picking up the canceled Lucifer. “I know that international, especially the UK group, was really bullish on that show, I haven’t checked in on that today (Thursday), but I heard conversations were ongoing on that yesterday.” So, keep heart, fans. Amazon recently rescued The Expanse after Syfy canceled the show, just as it was heading into the next phase of the story.

As for Amazon’s cross-net rivals, Netflix has given a 10-episode order for Away, about an international crew on a treacherous year-long mission to Mars, from Andrew Hinderaker (Penny Dreadful), Jason Katims (Parenthood) and Matt Reeves (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes). It centers on an American astronaut who leaves behind a husband and daughter to lead the crew in a story of hope and humanity.

The upcoming BBC series His Dark Materials based on the novels of Philip Pullman has some cast…James McAvoy (the X-Men franchise) will play Lord Asriel, the father of the primary character Lyra (Dafne Keen, Logan), who discovers a way to parallel worlds. Clarke Peters (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) plays the master who raises Lyra. Ruth Wilson (The Affair) will play Marisa Coulter, Asrael’s former lover and appears to want Lyra for a mysterious purpose. Earlier this year, Lin-Manuel Miranda (Mary Poppins Returns) was announced to play Lee Scoresby, an “aeronaut” who helps Lyra. Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) will direct.

I haven’t mentioned Marvel at all yet, have I? Well, Avengers: Infinity War became just the fourth movie to cross the $2 billion international box office mark, after Avatar, Titanic and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And it is still holding strong at the box office. On Marvel’s small screen, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger became Freeform’s biggest new series in two years, with an L+3 of 1.64 million, which also put it as the most watched telecast on the network in nearly a year.

And finally, we don’t talk much about MTV, but while the network might not be returning to its real roots in music, it may return to its past – a live action version of Aeon Flux, the sci-fi series that started as a series of shorts on the network’s Liquid Television block of trippy animated series. THe show was previously turned into a live action feature starring Charlize Theron as the tightly-clad assassin n 2005, but the movie flopped. Jeff Davis (Teen Wolf) and Gale Anne Hurd (The Walking Dead) are set to produce, with Davis writing.

We already know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi has been charged with developing a new saga trilogy to follow on once the Skywalker saga is concluded with Episode IX. But now it appears there is another saga in the works, this one from the minds of Game Of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

We wonder if this might squeeze out the anthology films, while these two sagas interleave their release years.

Disney happened to have their earnings call today as well, and CEO Bob Iger was asked if they considered doing a series, given their experience in the small format. Their interest was in creating Star Wars films,” replied Iger. “We’ve been talking with them for some time. They didn’t express interest in a series.”

Of course there were no details on release dates or plot, but Iger did say they were focused on “a particular point in time” in the Star Wars universe. I’m still hoping for some new stories set in the Old Republic.

Actor Roy Dotrice passed away peacefully today at the age of 94 in his London home surrounded by his three daughters, grandchildren and great grandson, his family confirmed in a statement.

Probably most know recently for playing Hallyne the Pyromancer in a couple episodes of Game of Thrones in 2012, his acting career spans many years on stage, small and large screen, and he won a Tony Award in 2000 for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in A Moon for the Misbegotten, and held the Guinness World Record in 2004 for most voiced characters in an audio book for his reading of A Song of Ice and Fire. He was also awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2008.

Dotrice was no stranger to genre roles either. He was originally set to play Grand Maester Pycelle in Games of Thrones but withdrew for medical reasons (the role went to Julian Glover.) He made two memorable guest appearances in Space: 1999 as Commissioner Simmonds, which sticks in my head for the horrible death he (presumably) suffered. He also had a starring role in the Beauty and the Beast series in the 80s. He had other guest appearances in Babylon 5, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (as Zeus, no less!), Earth 2, and Sliders among many, many roles. He also had a starring role in one of my favorite Olympics-based movies as the Russian skating coach Anton Pamchenko in The Cutting Edge.

Dotrice was married to his wife, actress Kay Dotrice, for just short of 60 years when she passed away in 2007. His three daughters were also actresses – Michele Dotrice (Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em), Karen Dotrice (best known as the young Jane Banks in Mary Poppins), and Yvette Dotrice (Crossroads).

The CW has completed their full house of returning shows, ordering a fifth season of The 100, so all its returning scripted shows that weren’t previously announced as ending have received early renewals for an additional season. Among it’s freshman series, however, the story is less rosy – Riverdale did get a second season, but No Tomorrow and Frequency seem unlikely.

Also, on the less rosy side, remember that little heard of movie Avatar? And the multiple sequels that were supposed to be out by now? Well, they are delayed again. Although James Cameron now says there are no less than FOUR sequels planned, Avatar 2 isn’t even going to make it’s latest planned date of December 2018. Cameron told the Toronto Star, “2018 is not happening,” mainly because they are making four movies, not one. But, “We’re full tilt boogie right now. This is my day job and pretty soon we’ll be 24-7.” I think it is safe to say Cameron is all-in on this, and it will be released when it is ready.

Lastly, we’ll be back in Westoros on July 16th…HBO finally announced that Season 7 will start on that date. If you are like me and HBO is the only channel you don’t get, expect a Season 6 marathon that weekend with a free preview… 🙂

The Prototype series developed for Syfy is not moving forward at the network, but might be shopped elsewhere. The pilot starred Jack Davenport (Smash) and Cote de Pablo (NCIS), and followed Edward “Eddy” Conway (Davenport), an aging playboy and former Silicon Valley wunderkind who has retreated from the tech world to return to UCLA as a physics professor. Eddy’s lack of self-control, be it with coeds or sports cars, has made him familiar with some unsavory characters, but his latest project might prove to be his most dangerous endeavor to date.

The CW announced that Alexandra Metz (Chicago Fire) will join the upcoming Frequency series, based on the 2000 film, as Maya, a college student desperate to prevent herself from becoming a victim of a violent crime. In addition Chai Romruen (Mako Mermaids) will join The 100 as the recurring character Ilan, a Grounder haunted by the horrors he committed while under Alie’s control.

Co-creator Brian Michael Bendis tweeted that the second season of Powers on Playstation Network – for now. But it seems the second season premiere episode was available for free not just on PSN but other outlets like YouTube – and YouTube recorded over 4.6 million views and counting. So maybe it could find life elsewhere…and the comic will continue.

No surprise that a sequel to the upcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is being worked on, but it already has a release date – November 16th, 2018, almost 2 years after the first.

And in case you haven’t heard (I did, but was on vacation at the time…) HBO’s Game Of Thrones will definitely end with the conclusion of Season 8. HBO would like to do more according to programming chief Casey Bloys, but the decision was from series creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. It’s not suprising as they overtake the source material from George R.R. Martin. Also, Season 7 won’t air until Summer of 2017, as they need to take advantage of some colder weather for shooting the upcoming season and thus are delaying production.

The primetime Emmy nominations are out…so how did our favorite genres fare?

Naturally Game Of Thrones leads the pack by far, with 23 separate nominations (which led all shows), including three for Best Supporting Actress and two for Best Actor. It was good to see Tatiana Maslany still on the list for Orphan Black, hoping she finally gets what she deserves. Walking Dead was still noticeably absent, with two minor noms.

Game Of Thrones was the big winner not just among the few genre programs nominated, but overall and even for all time, taking home 12 different Emmys – the most ever taken by a single series in a single year! And this was with writer George R.R. Martin in attendance.

The series took home the Outstanding Drama award at the conclusion of the night, after it had already won Director (David Nutter), Supporting Actor (Peter Dinklage), and Writing (David Benioff and D.B. Weiss). The other eight were awarded last week at the Creative Emmys.

The 2015 Emmy nominations list was released today, and Game Of Thrones is king of the hill at 24 nominations (out of HBO’s 126 total…the next closest network was FX Networks at 38.) American Horror Story: Freak Show followed in second at 19. Gotham and The Walking Dead weighed in at 4 a piece.

But the big story is that Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany has finally received a Outstanding Lead Actress, which fans have been clamoring for especially given that she’s a one woman ensemble cast, playing many very different characters in every episode. She’s up against Taraji P. Henson (Empire), Claire Danes (Homeland), Robin Wright (House Of Cards), Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder) and Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), so it’s pretty crowded with talent, but it’s a step closer…

Maisie Williams, who plays the diminutive but fiery Arya Stark on Game of Thrones, will guest star on the upcoming season of Doctor Who. The award-winning actress went straight from a U.S. tour to the TARDIS to film her guest role.

“I’m so excited to be working on Doctor Who as it’s such a big and important part of British Culture,” Williams said. “I can’t wait to meet the cast and crew and start filming, especially as we’ll be shooting not too far from my home town.”

“We’re thrilled to have Maisie Williams joining us on Doctor Who,” Producer Steven Moffat added. “It’s not possible to say too much about who or what she’s playing, but she is going to challenge the Doctor in very unexpected ways. This time he might just be out of his depth, and we know Maisie is going to give him exactly the right sort of hell.”

Hmm…I’m not really sure the Doctor is up to dealing with a teenager…especially one who carries Needle…